Austin victim's family sues killers

The family of an Austin woman who was killed in suburban River Forest this summer is suing the men arrested for her murder, looking for money to help raise her orphaned child.

In July, Devin Bickham Sr., 39, allegedly killed his 29-year-old girlfriend Chervon Alexander at near Harlem and Division in River Forest. He, according to police, did so with the help of his 20-year-old son, Devin Bickham Jr., and another man, Cardell Taylor, 35. Taylor reportedly walked up to the couple's parked car and shot her four times in an apparent murder-for-hire scheme.

All three men are now in Cook County Jail awaiting trial. Alexander's 9-year-old daughter, Iyana Quinones, is now living with her grandmother in Chicago. The victim's family is now suing the three alleged killers, seeking roughly $10 million from each of them to help raise the child.

"We're going to do everything humanly possible to help the little girl who's now without a mother," said Steven Dicker, the Chicago attorney who's representing Alexander's brother, Cornelius, in the case.

The civil suit was filed on Aug. 24 in Cook County Circuit Court. Officials are in the process of serving all three defendants with the lawsuit in jail, according to Dicker. They're seeking more than $30,000 from each man in compensation for the family's losses, as well as $10 million each in punitive damages, according to the suit.

Dicker acknowledged that the defendants likely don't have any money. But the suit, he says, seeks to turn their pockets "inside out" to see if there's anything to help the grieving family as they move forward.

"Realistically, am I going to get 10 million dollars? No way, because it's not there," the attorney said. "But we'll see what is and take it from there."